The Republican-controlled US Congress has passed a major budget bill that cuts important policies for supporting wind and solar power, according to the Verge. It explains that the bill “moves funds away from Medicaid, clean-energy tax credits and other public services and toward Trump’s attempt to mass-deport both documented and undocumented immigrants”.

The House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 218 to 214, after it was approved in the Senate on Tuesday by one vote, according to Canary Media. It adds that Trump is expected to sign the bill during a ceremony later today, which is Independence Day in the US. The legislation “effectively repeals or dilutes much of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act” – former president Joe Biden’s landmark climate legislation – and is set to have a “devastating effect on the development of clean energy, increasing utility costs and worsening climate change as a result”, the article says. The bill also extends tax cuts implemented in Trump’s first term while cutting “more than $1tn in federal spending on safety-net programs and clean-energy credits”, Bloomberg says. As well as cutting tax breaks for wind and solar power and electric cars, the bill maintains some federal support for power sources such as nuclear reactors and geothermal plants, the New York Times explains. It adds that the bill “provides a boost to fossil fuels and dismantles many of the biggest actions the federal government has ever taken to fight climate change”. The bill “gives the oil industry everything it wants”, including opening up federal lands to drilling and making it cheaper to operate there, according to CNBC. Electric-vehicle tax credits of up to $7,500, previously scheduled to last through to 2032, are now set to be removed at the end of September, CNN says. Inside Climate News says the $4tn bill will “slic[e] into every aspect of the national effort to address climate change and environmental injustice”. Early modelling by research groups shows the bill, as passed by the Senate earlier in the week, would lift US carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 8-12% from levels expected over the next decade under the Inflation Reduction Act, Politico reports.

The final version of the bill is “largely what emerged” from the Senate finance committee last month, “though the current version offers slightly longer timelines to claim clean-energy tax credits”, TechCrunch explains. The hard-right House “freedom caucus” of Republicans had criticised the most recent version and “wanted to see more significant cuts”, Utility Dive notes. The version of the bill that was approved by the Senate earlier in the week had included “compromise language” on the phaseout of solar and wind tax breaks, including giving projects “one year to begin construction to claim current tax credits”, Politico says. This came up against right-wing Republican “hard-liners” in the House, who say they ultimately approved the bill because they received assurances from the Trump administration that the president would use “executive action” to further “constrict” wind and solar projects, according to the news outlet.

Quartz cites experts who say that the bill will “absolutely” raise energy and electricity costs across the country. It cites analysis from climate policy thinktank Energy Innovation, which concludes that the version of the bill that passed the Senate would see wholesale electricity prices increase by 25% by 2030 and 74% by 2035. Canary Media has a map, based on separate analysis, showing how the bill would increase electricity prices in every state. The Associated Press says the bill is set to increase average annual electricity costs “by more than $100 per household by next year”. Inside Climate News has an article quoting industry representatives and energy experts who say that the bill will “stunt” the growth of clean power in Republican-controlled Texas. A piece in Bloomberg is headlined: “What killing tax credits means for the electric vehicle market.” Given Trump’s focus on “beautiful” coal and “ugly” wind power, the Washington Post has an article comparing the aesthetic value of different energy sources.

Meanwhile, the US Environmental Protection Agency has put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a “declaration of dissent” against its policies, the Associated Press reports. This follows a “weakening of funding and federal support for climate, environmental and health science”, the article notes. A Guardian investigation concludes that a “generation of scientific talent is at the brink of being lost to overseas competitors” due to the Trump administration’s dismantling of the National Science Foundation (NSF). It explains that climate research is one of the particularly vulnerable areas. E&E News has an article about changes in federal guidelines on science protocol that it says “could amplify climate sceptics”. Finally, the Washington Post has an article about Trump signing an executive order this week seeking to “make America beautiful again”, by “establishing a council tasked with conserving public lands, protecting wildlife populations and ensuring clean drinking water while remaining silent on climate change”. It notes that the move is a “first nod at outlining a cohesive environmental policy” for the Trump administration.

As the UN Financing for Development summit wraps up in the Spanish city of Seville, Climate Home News captures the climate-relevant outcomes from the event. It says 192 governments at the conference adopted the “Sevilla commitment”, which noted that the world is “falling short in tackling climate change, biodiversity loss and desertification”. Nations agreed to account for climate and other environmental issues when setting national budgets, release more “pre-arranged” financing before disasters hit and “promote a system that pauses debt repayments when countries are hit by a climate disaster”, the article says. It also explains that countries focused on multilateral development banks and private-finance “mobilisation” as a means to provide climate finance to developing countries, while identifying the need to make it easier for those countries to access international climate funds.

In its coverage, Reuters says the “once-in-a-decade summit promised to marshall resources that could narrow the estimated $4.3tn financing gap needed to help developing countries overcome mounting debt distress, the ravages of climate change or structural inequality”. However, it says that against a backdrop of “the world’s richest governments” cutting aid, many civil society groups criticised the final outcome, “which they said was watered down by wealthier nations unwilling to walk the talk”. Devex says many officials left happy after [laying] the groundwork for long-term tax reform and new public-private cooperation”.

Coverage of the extreme heat across Europe continues in many news outlets. The Financial Times says the “scorching heatwave across parts of Europe this week has been linked to half a dozen deaths, fuelled wildfires in Greece and Turkey and piled pressure on the continent’s already stressed waterways”. Temperatures have been higher than 40C in some areas this week, and reached as high as 46C in Spain and Portugal, it adds. The New York Times says European temperatures are “well above seasonal norms”, adding that “as the planet continues to warm, what was once rare has become frequent. Meteorologists say that Europe should expect more and hotter heatwaves as a result of climate change”. Bloomberg says: “Summers in Europe, where climate change has seen the region warm twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, are increasingly blighted by intense and frequent heatwaves.”

A wildfire on the Greek island of Crete has driven the evacuation of more than 1,500 people amid the early summer heat, according to Al Jazeera. It notes that last year, Greece saw its warmest summer ever, as well as 45,000 hectares “torched by wildfires”. In eastern Germany “at least two firefighters have been seriously injured and more than 100 residents evacuated as wildfires continue to burn”, according to Euronews. It attributes wildfires across the continent to the blast of extreme heat. The western Balkans are facing “extreme drought” amid the soaring temperatures, according to the Associated Press. The New York Times reports on how the record-breaking heat has forced nuclear power plant operators in France and Switzerland to shut down at least three reactors at two sites.

Meanwhile, Euractiv reports that Denmark, which has taken over the presidency of the Council of the European Union, has said reaching a deal on new EU climate targets ahead of COP30 will be “difficult”. Le Monde reports that France’s official climate advisors have warned that the pace of the nation’s decarbonisation “slowed considerably” in 2024. Politico has a profile of Teresa Ribera – the “European Commission’s second-most powerful politician” – and her role in leading on climate action in the EU.

Brazil’s COP30 summit chief, André Corrêa do Lago, has “defended oil and gas production as being compatible with international efforts to limit global warming” following new analysis showing his nation’s plans for oil expansion, the Financial Times reports. The analysis by campaign group Global Witness, based on data from independent consultancy Rystad Energy, shows that state-backed Petrobras is set to increase oil production “by among the most of the world’s top producers in percentage terms”, the newspaper explains.

In other news, a non-binding advisory opinion from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) concluded that its member states “must cooperate to tackle climate change and not take actions that set back environmental protections”, Reuters reports. The newswire explains that the court holds jurisdiction over 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries and the advisory opinion was requested by Colombia and Chile. The court also concluded that companies must adopt “effective” measures to tackle climate change, states should discourage “greenwashing” and states should set targets to cut emissions that “are as ambitious as possible”, with concrete timeframes, the article continues.

In other news, “for the first time in history” Catholic bishops representing more than 800 million people across the global south have issued a joint statement demanding an “ambitious implementation” of the Paris Agreement, according to Mongabay. Ten years on from Pope Francis’ “Laudato Si” encyclical, which promoted climate action, the bishops call on states to “implement ambitious nationally determined contributions on a scale commensurate with the climate emergency”, the article adds. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the Vatican, led by the new Pope Leo XIV, has released a new rite for mass that can “be used to ask God for the ability to care for creation”.

The UK government has laid out its plan to almost double onshore wind from 14.8 gigawatts (GW) to 27-29GW across England by 2030, according to the Press Association. As part of the wider government plan to achieve a decarbonised electricity system by 2030, it has set out 40 actions for ministers and industry to take to reach the 2030 onshore wind ambitions, the article explains. The newswire says these include “planning reforms, building supply chains and skilled workforces, resolving issues over how onshore turbines and aerospace infrastructure can co-exist, repowering old turbines and exploring plans to expand the clean industry bonus for onshore wind”. 

Despite this long list of actions, some right-leaning newspapers have focused on one aspect of the plan, including the Daily Express which has the headline: “Ed Miliband now wants Brits to put wind turbines in their gardens.” The article says the energy secretary’s plan includes a consultation into relaxing planning rules on the construction of wind turbines on residential land. Under the headline “Miliband plots garden wind farm revolution”, the Daily Telegraph quotes Conservative energy spokesperson Andrew Bowie and Reform UK”s Richard Tice attacking Miliband and his plans for wind power. The story, which features on the newspaper’s frontpage, also notes that “garden or rooftop wind turbines can help homeowners and small businesses cut their power bills by generating electricity for direct consumption”. In its coverage, the Daily Mail includes a quote from Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy minister, who claims that Miliband’s “obsession with net-zero targets” would make electricity more expensive.

“Flow batteries” are emerging as a potential solution for energy storage in China, business news outlet Caixin reports, with “China’s installation of flow batteries surg[ing] 570% year-on-year to 1.8 gigawatt-hours” in 2024. Flow batteries are larger and heavier than lithium-ion batteries, but have advantages in terms of “long-term costs”, duration and safety, the outlet adds. Science and Technology Daily publishes an article saying that utilisation rates of wind and solar power in China’s western regions fell between January and May this year, due to a “rapid growth” in renewable energy installations. State news agency Xinhua reports that China has released a “series of national standards” covering areas including the “green transformation of traditional industries”; the development of transportation and energy; and “green and low-carbon development”. China Reform Daily, an outlet managed by top economic-planning body the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), quotes an NDRC official saying China “needs to maintain medium- and long-term [coal-power] contracts as a core [mechanism] to ensure stable coal supply”. State-run newspaper China Daily reports that the carbon intensity of China’s textile sector fell by more than 60% from 2005 to 2022 as producers use technologies to “accelerate the sector’s green transformation”.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that heavy rainfall, “which meteorologists link to climate change”, continues across China, causing “flash floods and landslides” that have killed at least seven people. The Independent also covers the story, noting that China has issued “additional…emergency disaster relief funds”. China has issued its “first national heat-health risk warning” as the country prepares for “another wave of extreme temperatures”, aiming to “strengthen public health preparedness amid growing climate challenges”, China Daily says.

Elsewhere, China Daily reports European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi have agreed that the EU and China should “work together to address global challenges such as climate change”. Reuters says that EU foreign affairs head Kaja Kallas also met with Wang, urging China to “put an end to its distortive practices, including its restrictions on rare earths exports”. The state-supporting newspaper Global Times reports Europe is driving “surging demand” for Chinese cooling products, such as air conditioners, following “heatwaves” on the continent. [If produced for export, these greenhouse gas-intensive products are not subject to Kigali Amendment controls.]

New York Times opinion columnist Thomas Friedman writes that the “dog’s breakfast of a bill” that is set to be signed by US president Donald Trump today will place the nation at a major disadvantage compared to China, due to the removal of support for clean power sources. He writes: “The Chinese simply can’t believe their luck: that at the dawn of the electricity-guzzling era of artificial intelligence, the US president and his party have decided to engage in one of the greatest acts of strategic self-harm imaginable. They have passed a giant bill that, among other craziness, deliberately undermines America’s ability to generate electricity through renewables – solar, battery and wind power in particular.” Friedman emphasises that China is already “far ahead” of the US in developing low-carbon technologies and the bill will only exacerbate this. “In one fell swoop, this bill will make your home hotter, your air-conditioning bill higher, your clean energy job scarcer, America’s auto industry weaker and China happier,” he adds.

In the Daily Telegraph, columnist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard takes a similar line. “China’s leaders must be wondering whether they are hallucinating or whether America’s political class really has lost its mind, committing economic and geopolitical self-harm on a breathtaking scale,” he writes. Evans-Pritchard continues: “The big bill is the latest in a series of Luddite measures that let China run away with the electro-tech revolution and much of the future global market for cars, trucks, short-haul aviation, home heating and cooling, smart grids, power storage and the products that deliver the cheapest energy ever known to man.” He also dismisses broader cultural debates about the value of clean energy, noting that “the woke and the anti-woke are still arguing about renewables but we are past that developmental phase”. 

In the Atlantic, staff writer Rogé Karma highlights the removal of tax credits for clean energy as the most “obviously self-defeating” element of the bill. “That decision will not simply set back the fight against climate change. Congressional Republicans could also be setting America up for the worst energy-affordability crisis since the 1970s,” he says.

Finally, in other comment, prominent climate sceptic Matt Ridley uses a column in the Daily Telegraph to attack the UK Met Office for a webpage on climate impacts in the UK that includes projections under a very-high emissions scenario.

New research finds that peatlands in Europe, the US, Russia and other parts of the northern hemisphere could be a net-source of greenhouse gas emissions under future warming scenarios. Using an Earth system model with a “newly integrated peat carbon module”, they find that northern peatlands take in more carbon from the atmosphere under various overshoot pathways that temporarily exceed 1.5-2.5C – but this is “largely offset by higher methane emissions”. The study authors write: “While the feedback from peatlands may seem modest…its importance lies in presenting a substantial risk for extending the duration of overshoot.”